On Wednesday, June 10th IARecords hosted its eighth Next Level Competition. The Next Level is a production held twice a year for current IAR students. Student-artists submit original music to IAR staff. The top submissions are chosen to then compete live on stage at Arlene’s Grocery, a club in the East Village. IAR student-artists had the opportunity to showcase their talent and diversity in front of an overflow crowd of students, faculty, staff, family and friends. The event has grown in popularity since it’s inception in 2005. Next Level 8 had 13 acts performing, more than ever before, and, for the first time, a headlining act, Hybrid, composed of students, alumni and faculty members, Steve Eigner and Jonathan Appel. The show was also recorded live and will be released as a live album in the coming weeks. The winner of the competition, decided by audience voting, was J. Vill, who received a $1,000 gift card to Guitar Center.
The Next Level performers were:
Chanese Elife, song ‘Your Peace’, myspace.com/chaneseelife
Freekstile, song ‘Flag Island’, myspace.com/freekstiletheepikk
Ma-or featuring Trigga, song ‘No More Rain’, maor.biz
PANA!, song ‘Hijos De La Calle’, myspace.com/panamusik
The Goodfellas, song ‘On My GF Bull S**t’, myspace.com/nygoodfellas
J. Vill, song ‘Life I Live’, myspace.com/ispyjvill
Signif, song ‘Flaws’, signifthegift.com
Once Off featuring Aziz, song ‘Comin’ Around’
J. Vic featuring Rhyse, song ‘Your Da 1’, myspace.com/orfacevic
Flames-Flow featuring Princess Menen, song ‘2000 and Mine’, myspace.com/flamesflow
The Crazy Rhythm Orchestra, song ‘Soles de Coral’, myspace.com/danicorreau
Juanito Perez, song ‘Soft Porn’, juanitoperez.com
Infamus Da Emcee, song ‘Who’s Laughing Now?’, myspace.com/rgs718
Aziz featuring Patrick Lee, song ‘Pressure’, myspace.com/jerseybump
On Wednesday, May 13th, IAR hosted an event designed to showcase 4th quarter students and their production skills. Selected student-mentors in their 4th quarter worked together to create and run an event for their peers. The event began with an introduction by each mentor and a candid Q&A about IAR’s program. The 4th quarter mentors provided insight and guidance to students in their 1st and 2nd quarters about what to expect and how to best use their knowledge. The mentors then demonstrated the step-by-step process of producing a track with ProTools and Reason. The demo started by creating a beat in Reason and then layering additional sounds and effects. Next they played the beat and student-mentors recorded tracks for bass, guitar, and keyboard in ProTools. Wes, a student-mentor who acted as main producer for the event, controlled the session and created loops, fades, and synched up audio segments, explaining every step of his mix.
Faculty members Mario Salvati and Steve Eigner injected comments about their studio experiences; Mario observed: “Recording a segment of audio and then cutting and pasting it throughout the complete track is a technique used in much of today’s production work. But to get more texture and feeling in the music, it’s best to have the artists record the entire song from beginning to end. The small differences and changes make the song that much better.” Finally, members of the audience added their own freestyle vocals to the track. While Wes created the final mix, students networked with one another and exchanged engineering ideas. In just 45 minutes, the student-mentors successfully used what they were learning at IAR to record and produce a finished track.
Just as science and mathematics have historical backgrounds and paths of evolution and discovery, so too does music. Understanding the building blocks of music is essential for any musical artist. It can also be a huge advantage for an engineer or producer. What is the ‘hook’? Where should it occur in a song? How do you transition to and from a verse? The answers can make the difference between a song becoming a hit or a flop. Audio engineers and producers communicate directly with artists to create their music. If an engineer can understand where the musician is trying to take his or her music, the engineer can steer a session towards acoustic perfection. Music theory applies to every facet of music including how it is perceived, scales, song structure, rhythm, harmony, melody, chords, and much more.
IAR instructor Justin Balch conducted this DIY for students and guests. Justin is an audio engineer specializing in remote recording and mixing of jazz and western classical music. He has recorded, mixed and/or edited many artists including Herbie Hancock, Chuck D, and DMC and currently does freelance recording and mixing at La Sala Studios in the East Village. Justin began with a brief history of music and defined common terms such as pitch, notes, chords, and key signatures. He played different notes, scales, and chords on a keyboard to demonstrate how emotions and feelings are created through different variations. Students engaged in a clapping exercise to hear the difference between whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes. A variety of handouts were distributed to reference during the seminar but also to take and apply to work at home. The two hour demo provided the basics but only brushed the surface of a deep topic.
